By Tillery                                      H.B. No. 1023

      75R2623 JRD-F                           

                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

 1-1                                   AN ACT

 1-2     relating to the records of an overturned disciplinary action or an

 1-3     unsustained complaint against fire fighters and police officers in

 1-4     certain municipalities.

 1-5           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

 1-6           SECTION 1.  Subchapter D, Chapter 143, Local Government Code,

 1-7     is amended by adding Section 143.058 to read as follows:

 1-8           Sec. 143.058.  RECORDS OF OVERTURNED DISCIPLINARY ACTION OR

 1-9     UNSUSTAINED COMPLAINT.  (a)  The department head shall promptly

1-10     order that the records of a disciplinary action taken against a

1-11     fire fighter or police officer be expunged from each file

1-12     maintained on the fire fighter or police officer by the department

1-13     if the disciplinary action was overturned on appeal by the

1-14     commission, an independent third-party hearing examiner, or a court

1-15     of competent jurisdiction.  Documents that must be expunged under

1-16     this subsection include all documents that indicate disciplinary

1-17     action was recommended or taken against the fire fighter or police

1-18     officer, such as the recommendations of a disciplinary committee or

1-19     a letter of suspension.  This subsection does not apply:

1-20                 (1)  if the disciplinary action was only reduced and

1-21     not overturned; or

1-22                 (2)  if the fire fighter or police officer is charged

1-23     with using excessive force that resulted in a death or injury and

1-24     the charge is being investigated by a law enforcement or criminal

 2-1     justice agency other than the department.

 2-2           (b)  The department shall maintain an investigatory document

 2-3     that relates to a disciplinary action against a fire fighter or

 2-4     police officer that was overturned on appeal, or any document in

 2-5     the possession of the department that relates to a charge of

 2-6     misconduct against a fire fighter or police officer that the

 2-7     department did not sustain, only in a file created by the

 2-8     department for the department's use.  The department may not

 2-9     release those documents to any agency or other person except

2-10     another law enforcement agency or fire department.

2-11           (c)  The requirements of this section are in addition to the

2-12     requirements of Section 143.089.

2-13           SECTION 2.  Section 143.1214, Local Government Code, is

2-14     repealed.

2-15           SECTION 3.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1997.

2-16           SECTION 4.  The importance of this legislation and the

2-17     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an

2-18     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the

2-19     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several

2-20     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.